This invention relates generally to a system for containing and recovering oil spills and particularly to a system which employs oil sorbent material.
The advent of the oil super tanker in World Trade has drawn attention to the need for an effective clean-up system for the oil spills which occur with increasing frequency from such tankers. Such oil spills reach catastrophic proportions in those instances in which such tankers are damaged or run aground, as was the case with the Argo Merchant carrying more than 7.5 million gallons of thick heating oil. Of course, in addition to the enormous clean-up problem there is also the related problem of the waste of a valuable natural resource. In addition to the formation of oil slicks resulting from damaged oil tankers there is also the possibility of even greater catastrophes resulting from the blow-out of oil rig systems such as occured in the North Sea off the coast of Norway in April of 1977. Such wells can discharge into the ocean one million gallons per day of oil and often many days elapse before the wells are capped. Some authorities are so fearful of the occurrence of oil spills of this type that off-shore drilling for oil is prohibited by them with the resultant loss of untold quantities of oil which is recognized as being the dominant natural fuel currently available. It goes without saying that the disastrous effect of oil spills on sea life together with the severe pollution of beaches has resulted in the solution to this problem being given the utmost priority.
In spite of the urgency, attempts to contain, remove and recover oil from the surface of the oceans of the world have not met with significant success. One of the methods employed has been the attempt to encircle the oil slick resulting from the spill with a peripheral inflated boom that contains the oil and then pump off the oil. This method suffers from the disadvantage that water as well as oil must be pumped and then separated, and the method cannot be employed satisfactorily in heavy seas. Another method, which has obvious disadvantages, has been the attempt to burn the oil off the water surface: this is a solution which may produce a pollution problem greater than that which it attempts to solve. Another attempted solution has been the use of synthetic foam to absorb the oil, which can then, in theory, be recovered from the impregnated foam. Two patents, namely U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,514 issued to Clampitt et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,067 issued to Miranda, disclose methods of utilizing foam for the removal of oil slicks. Both systems rely on the application of foam to the upper surface of the oil slick and appear to rely on the use of a particular type of foam. In the Clampitt system the foam is preformed and applied as chips or blocks to the upper surface of the water by means of a blower from an aircraft or from a vessel. The Miranda system, in one of its embodiments, delivers separate streams of foam-forming liquid through nozzles carried by a vessel high above the water surface. Such liquid streams rely on favorable wind and smooth seas to provide an even mix of the foam forming agents.
The present system solves the above and other problems in a manner not suggested in the known prior art.